It seems popular for people to "jump ship" from the Olympus Four Thirds camera system these days. I thought it would be refreshing to tell you why I just BOUGHT a new Four Thirds camera system.

1) I was returning to photography on a budget, and operated from a "needs" perspective (i.e. I needed a good D-SLR camera sytem to learn photography again, and realized I was unlikely to do much shooting in darkish conditions, and if/when I did, I would have a decent flash unit).

2) I wanted a camera with a lot more versatility than any point and shoot variety could provide, and didn't like the small size of the Micro Four Thirds cameras.

3) I wanted to get into a system with a set of proven lens options, as I preferred to spend my money building a collection of great lenses rather than the "latest" in camera bodies.

4) I recognized that a 12.3 MP sensor was more than enough for any size image I would want to print out.

5) I wanted to leverage what my money could buy, and realized there were some great deals on used Olympus Four Thirds Lenses

6) I have faith that eventually Olympus will bring out another Four Thirds camera body, and EVEN IF THEY DON'T, I recognize as an amateur novice photographer, the camera I bought would be good enough for at LEAST 3-4 years.

So what did I buy?

1) A new Olympus E-620 camera kit with 14-42mm lens for $447.00 (I had an older E-510 camera I bought from a friend with 14-42mm lens, and sold it locally for $200, so the cost of my new camera came to $247.00). Note that it still has the full manufacturers warranty.

2) I picked up used Olympus Zuiko ED 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 and ED 70-300mm f4.0-5.6 lenses, a "used" but never taken out of box TC-14 tele-converter, and a FL-50R flash for $1050. Each lens came with UV filters at no extra cost.

So, I spent $1300 on what is now a bit of an unpopular camera system. How did that turn out for me?

I have used this system for about a week, and am very impressed with both the imag and build quality. It does everything I hoped for and more. It delivers noticeably better picture quality than my friends Nikon D80 and his $2500 worth of lenses. Is there anything better? Sure there is, but I recognize what is limiting me as a photographer is experience, and you can't buy that, even if you have that shiny new Nikon D800E camera system.